57 réponses à ce sujet

[Arthur Cousland]

mad825 wrote...

AstraDrakkar wrote...

Being able to choose my gender is an absolute must for me. I couldn't finish The Witcher simply because I had to play a male which I am unable to identify with.

Your kidding, right?

It a bit like saying you didn't like a film or book because the protagonist is [insert sex]. How many games do you dislike just based on the reason the protagonist is male?

You don't need to "identify" to enjoy a good story regardless the medium, so long as you can gain perspective of the protagonist(personality, aspirations and the world around) then there should be some interest in how it plays out.

Oh god how picky we have become. 

Many people want to identify with their character and feel as if they are living in the game world through their character.  While identifying with a character is easier in a game like Skyrim (the player creates their own character's backstory and the game is in first person by default), many also seek the same feeling with the more story-driven rpgs like Dragon Age.

When I start a new game, I always customize my character's look and change the name from the default in order to make them "mine", rather than just stick with the default face+name.  It helps make my character feel more than just some avatar that I move from point A to point B.  I don't just play Bioware games for the story, but for the overall experience.

[Giltspur]

Gender over race because Bioware has men and women in their audience; at last count, there have still been no elves or dwarves to purchase any Bioware product.

That said, I don't see any problem with using the same voice actor for all races.  Couldn't a human, a surface dwarf and a city elf sound similar?  It seems they could.

So as usual the correct answer is everything.

[Tharlax_1987]

I would choose option number 3 and get rid of the voiced protagonist and include both the race and the gender option with origins stories. But if I had to choose between gender or race I would choose gender.

[Nightdragon8]

If its a choice between Race and gender, I will pick scre Mainprotage voice acting,

Skyrim did fine without the Main protage speaking.

And you can't tell me they can't use a voice modulaltion software to save money on voice acting, actors. My guy friend was able to use it to make it sound like a woman, and even screwed with clan mates with it.

So IMO if they use the MorphVOX Pro - Voice Changer 4.3.17 and its only 40 bucks online they can get a large group of voices ont he cheap. Isn't Technology grand??

[test for echo]

Chipaway111 wrote...

As much as I'd love to have race options back, I have to agree with you. It doesn't seem like a viable option anymore given all the voice actors you'd need to cover the races. Dalish being a prime example. I'd pick gender everytime, maybe instead of race we could have an array of backgrounds to chose from insteand?

Just a thought.

I'm actually on board with your idea. I think it would be intriguing to focus on one race and simply offer the option for us to explore different backgrounds in depth. Commoner/servant, some form of nobility, merchant, traveler, clergyman, et cetera.

Whatever the case, I'd definitely like to see more reactions to your background than a brief, one-time acknowledgement. While I've played through Origins more times than I'd care to admit, the lack of reaction to race really started to irk me after a while. You'd think a City Elf or Dalish Elf would be met with more contempt in human cities or barred access to certain areas. But that's just me.

easygame88 wrote...

Yet all of the Wardens from the different origins had a more engaging backstory than Hawke, who err...hardly had one at all.

I like to think of Hawke as the cut Human Commoner origin from DA:O.
While I agree that Hawke's background could have been explored more thoroughly, we did get a few tastes of it here and there (Such as Legacy, but it seems unfair to include DLC, since some people did not play it). But I think the devs were headed in the right direction, but like so many other things in DAII, they just didn't have the time to expand on it.

[CuriousArtemis]

PurebredCorn wrote...

I would choose gender mostly because chances are the races I would want to play most of all would only be available in male and that would be a deal breaker for me. There are already too many games where I'm forced to play a male protagonist, and even though I would understand it would be a compromise, it would be too much of a compromise.

The gaming world is becoming increasingly aware of the female consummer, so it makes absolutely NO sense for a company to remove options when it comes to gender.  Your statement is such a great example of why this would be a no-no.  (And is also why we need more race [as in, human ethnicity/skin color] and sexuality [LGBTQ] options in gaming as well.  Black and brown and gay people also game.)

Brodoteau wrote...

This is a good point about the reactions of people, but I think Bioware wants it to be this way.  Maybe choosing to be a male or female should provoke different kinds of reactions?  

 

Since many women have to deal with discrimination in their daily lives, having NPCs react differently to their characters based on gender alone would probably not be a good idea.  I know as a woman I appreciate that I can enter this vrtual world where for once my gender does not matter.

mad825 wrote...

You don't need to "identify" to enjoy a good story regardless the medium, so long as you can gain perspective of the protagonist(personality, aspirations and the world around) then there should be some interest in how it plays out. 

 

You may not, but many people do, especially those who are frequently marginalized and/or disenfranchised in their daily lives.  It is important for such a person to be able to identify with a powerful character who is "just like them." Imagine, for example, being a gay teen, and being constantly picked on in your real life, and being exposed to media that shows gay characters being ridiculous or stupid or mere comic relief.  Then you pick up a video game, where you're allowed to be gay (or a woman, or Black, etc.) and suddenly you can be you and you're bad ass and everyone has to kiss your butt for saving the world

Video games are so empowering, and I just think that removing gender selection would be a huge step back.  I will say that I recently started a FemShep playthrough (I am female, but I like to play male Shep's and Hawke's because I love m/m romance), and when the text flashed across the screen that "she" would be the galaxy's only hope for survival, I literally got chills up my spine and a little bewildered/choked up.

That's just the kind of empowering/amazing effect that video games can have on women and others who need to see themselves in these games.

Modifié par motomotogirl, 16 juillet 2012 - 04:27 .

[CELL55]

I would rather have gender as a choice than race. Origins were neat, but outside of a few specific circumstances, didn't have a huge impact on the game, as the game had to accommodate the different origins without making 6 games. Despite DA2's numerous flaws, I felt that having a fixed origin that the game could keep referencing and coming back to was a great boon to the narrative.

[Plaintiff]

Gender is far more important than race, to me. Especially in a Bioware game, where romance is prevalent. Playing a non-human doesn't particularly appeal to me anyway, expecially not when the other options are the same old, cliche fantasy standards.

But if they did bring back race options, there are ways that they could work around the cost of VA.

[Kidd]

I'd pick gender over race any time. No women, no buy. Perhaps I could see myself getting the game regardless if the gender removed was male, but I doubt that'd happen, nor do I particularly think that's a good idea any way. I'd prefer being able to create human male alts over dwarven females.

Brodoteau wrote...

This is a good point about the reactions of people, but I think Bioware wants it to be this way.  Maybe choosing to be a male or female should provoke different kinds of reactions?

Not often, I'd hope. I dislike Alistair's comment about female Grey Wardens being rare as is. Still like the guy, he more than makes up for it. But when I hear stuff like that, I rage. There's enough "oh you're a gamer? but you're a woman. that makes you cool/date-worthy/manly/fat/****ty/ugly" judging based on gender IRL as is. Call me jaded

Brodoteau wrote...

It seems most people would want to keep the gender option but would it matter if that gender was only assigned to one particular class.
I'm thinking of the first two Diablo games where you could play a warrior sure but he could only be male.  You could also play a soceress but she was female.

Gender locks by class are bad, to me. One of the features that marketed Diablo 3 to me the most was being able to pick my character's gender. 

mad825 wrote...

AstraDrakkar wrote...

Being able to choose my gender is an absolute must for me. I couldn't finish The Witcher simply because I had to play a male which I am unable to identify with.

Your kidding, right? [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/wondering.png[/smilie]

It a bit like saying you didn't like a film or book because the protagonist is [insert sex]. How many games do you dislike just based on the reason the protagonist is male?

Some people don't enjoy the idea of role playing characters of certain genders. I sure know my default gender in RPGs is female, I'll only create a male if I have a very specific character concept that I want to be male. Out of the last five D&D characters I created, one was male, for instance. It's not particularly odd. In a game where you supposedly get to role play, you will feel limited if the very first choice you normally make in an RPG (male or female?) is removed from you. 

It might be a bit difficult to understand for certain men, and I do not mean to imply they're lesser for not understanding. Female PCs are not common in video games, and the chance to play one feels great. There's a very natural relating process when playing one's own gender, and men have this with most games, all the time. 

When men do get the option to play a woman, they may take that chance because it's different from what they usually play and that's pretty interesting. Just like playing an awesome mage instead of a generic buzz cut soldier is interesting.

But when you reverse the dime for female gamers, the perspective often shifts. While a man finds an opposite gendered protagonist interesting cause hey, you don't often get to play one like that, opposite gender isn't interesting to us. It's the soil we've treaded a thousand times. But when we get to play female characters to get that innate connection men get with their male characters - who they play in most games - we not only get the thrill of something rare and interesting but that special connection at the same time.

Thus, I believe, a lot of gamer women will be much more desiring of a female protagonist than gamer men care about a male protagonist.

I have no basis for what I say outside of conversations with friends of course, I'm no researcher. But it makes sense to me =)

Modifié par KiddDaBeauty, 16 juillet 2012 - 09:44 .

[Chiramu]

Hello Diablo 2, had this problem choosing a character in that because of this problem :<.

I think for me it would depend on the character of the race you are choosing. If the Human Male is cool I would probably choose him, I would only wish if they did do this that they wouldn't make the Female Elf this weak little girl that's so commonplace in Japanese cartoons (since Bioware likes DoTS and seem to like the Japanese style of writing).

[PsychoBlonde]

Direwolf0294 wrote...

For me being able to pick your race would be worthless if you couldn't pick your gender.

Yes.  I hate having to play as male, and you bet your arse that if this were to happen, you'd get stuck as male, because of the conventional "wisdom" that  "most gamers are white males age 16-24 and they can't identify with anybody who isn't the same race/gender/age as them".

This even though according to actual statistics these days, most people who PURCHASE games are over 30, and AT LEAST 40% of them are female.  Not saying that women CAN'T identify with a male protagonist, but it's NICE to have the OPTION.  Plus, a large percentage of the male players I know like to play female characters as well.

To be honest, I would not be bothered if they *make* you play a dwarf, or an elf, or a kossith, or, hell, a fex whatever the heck they look like.  Or a dragon.  Whatever.  However, I do think that some of those choices would have SERIOUS consequences on the popularity of the game, as opposed to human which has only a minor effect.

[Vespasian 91]

Has it been confirmed that race selection is not going to happen for DA 3?

[Amycus89]

...I still don't get why you can't have the same voice actor for all races. In my opinion, Hawke's voice would have worked for both an elven or dwarven PC as well. Both the male and female version.

Modifié par Amycus89, 16 juillet 2012 - 03:09 .

[mopotter]

TOR uses the same voice actors for every race. So i would have no problem having the same voice actors for any race choice in DA3, if they were available.

If I don't have choices in gender, I don't buy it.

[mopotter]

mad825 wrote...

AstraDrakkar wrote...

Being able to choose my gender is an absolute must for me. I couldn't finish The Witcher simply because I had to play a male which I am unable to identify with.

Your kidding, right?

It a bit like saying you didn't like a film or book because the protagonist is [insert sex]. How many games do you dislike just based on the reason the protagonist is male?

You don't need to "identify" to enjoy a good story regardless the medium, so long as you can gain perspective of the protagonist(personality, aspirations and the world around) then there should be some interest in how it plays out.

Oh god how picky we have become. 

Picky - BS.  It is nothing like a book or a movie.  

I didn't create Dresden or John McClane or Richard Riddick.   I don't get to make choices in how Dresden reacts to Bob or if John McClane tells Simon that A. too bad you want to blow up that building; B. If you blow up that building I will ........ C.  Bring it on.

I spent years playing video games as the male character because it was all that was available.  Mario, Link, Luke Chrono Trigger because those were my choices.  Then I found BW and games like Diablo, Fall Out, Elder Scrolls, where I was given a choices in my character.  I will never go back to games that don't give me gender choices.  I play both, but I play both or I don't buy them.  

[mopotter]

Nightdragon8 wrote...

And you can't tell me they can't use a voice modulaltion software to save money on voice acting, actors. My guy friend was able to use it to make it sound like a woman, and even screwed with clan mates with it.

So IMO if they use the MorphVOX Pro - Voice Changer 4.3.17 and its only 40 bucks online they can get a large group of voices ont he cheap. Isn't Technology grand??

I think this would be sort of interesting for the main character.   I would still want voice actors for the others.  I really would like a specific voice actor for the main characters, male and female, but it would be sort of fun to change their voice for each character i play.

[RPGmom28]

Mopotter, I agree with you. I used to simply accept that I had be the mandatory male protagonist in a game, but since games have begun to come out that allow me to be female, I won't put up with it anymore. A company like Bioware that puts out games where women can play women makes it so that I don't have to put up with it. There are enough games being created that don't restrict me, so why should I buy something that does? There is no reason. Personal preference is the foundation of my choice when I spend my money.

Modifié par RPGmom28, 16 juillet 2012 - 05:57 .

[philippe willaume]

@ OP
??? it is like asking if we would like to have a 6 fingered glove instead of a pair so that we can buy only one and have it on one hand at a time whilst we have the other in our pocket.


if push come to shove genders takes my preference of over race, but having the same voice for different races is a very minimal price to pay.

[CuriousArtemis]

mopotter wrote...

I think this would be sort of interesting for the main character.   I would still want voice actors for the others.  I really would like a specific voice actor for the main characters, male and female, but it would be sort of fun to change their voice for each character i play.

Even in The Sims you have three voice options, and then a slider that changes pitch.  So you could assign three characters all the same voice, but change the sliders so drastically either way that they absolutely sound like three different people.  

No reason why a voice slider wouldn't work, right?

[mopotter]

motomotogirl wrote...

mopotter wrote...

I think this would be sort of interesting for the main character.   I would still want voice actors for the others.  I really would like a specific voice actor for the main characters, male and female, but it would be sort of fun to change their voice for each character i play.

Even in The Sims you have three voice options, and then a slider that changes pitch.  So you could assign three characters all the same voice, but change the sliders so drastically either way that they absolutely sound like three different people.  

No reason why a voice slider wouldn't work, right?

No reason that I know of.  Of course I know nothing about programing video games.  But yes,  my sims also all have individualized voices.  

[Plaintiff]

motomotogirl wrote...

mopotter wrote...

I think this would be sort of interesting for the main character.   I would still want voice actors for the others.  I really would like a specific voice actor for the main characters, male and female, but it would be sort of fun to change their voice for each character i play.

Even in The Sims you have three voice options, and then a slider that changes pitch.  So you could assign three characters all the same voice, but change the sliders so drastically either way that they absolutely sound like three different people.  

No reason why a voice slider wouldn't work, right?

It would have to be a very good one. Most voice sliders I've seen in video games make the PC sound obviously fake and robot-like if you deviate from the default position even slightly.

Modifié par Plaintiff, 17 juillet 2012 - 12:23 .

[RobertRBest]

I'd rather have gender. My Thedas is an odd place. Everyone in the setting thinks female warriors are strange but they keep becoming the greatest hero in all the land. I like female protagonists.

[Androme]

How about a larger selection of pre-defined characters? They're all of course almost identical but differ in certain parts of the story and their backgrounds. Imagine DA3 character creation screen, the first thing you have to choose is between these:

<name> - Dwarf male - pre-defined
<name> - Human male/female (optional) - pre-defined
<name> - Dalish elf female - pre-defined
<name> - Kossith male - pre-defined

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

Dear OP:

It depends. Please clarify if selecting 'Race' would mean I get a choice between several races of a single gender, or if it means I would get a choice between several races of varying (though unchangeable) gender.

Because if the latter, if there was a pre-defined dwarven woman, a pre-defined elven man, etc, I'd select having races available as I could still play as either gender.